Russian Сulture and Мedia: Production and Promotion of Content on Culture-related Topics

July 15 – 26

Online/In-person

Language: English

The course aims at introducing students to key personalities, monuments and artifacts of classical Russian culture (XVIII – XX centuries) and their coverage in new media.

The true task of the media is not to build walls but bridges. Between individuals, countries and cultures. Our course will allow not only to understand the ‘cultural code’ of Russia, but also to learn how to use this knowledge for practical purposes–to study, explain and preserve Russian culture in digital media sphere of the XXI century.

Mikhail Tyurkin

Senior lecturer: HSE Campus in St. Petersburg / School of Arts and Humanities / Department of Media

Course Description

Students will learn to combine ‘eternity’ and ‘time’—an understanding of the Russian ‘cultural code’ and the ability to create popular media content in various genres and formats and for various digital platforms based on this knowledge. The course will be of interest to historians, cultural scientists, art historians, philosophers, anthropologists, journalists, PR specialists, producers and anyone who wants to speak about Russian culture in the language of contemporary media.

Why Choose This Course?

The course is of a country-specific nature and is built on a balance between theory and practice. Students will familiarise themselves with the basic theories of the mediatisation of culture (primarily of the class age) in the context of Web 2.0 and will try their hand at producing and promoting their own media projects under the guidance of experienced mentors from the industry. The training will be of a ‘hybrid’ nature—in addition to lectures and seminars, some classes will be conducted in the form of newsroom brainstorming typical for the media industry. In addition, employees of the Hermitage-Media department will share their know-hows with students.

Content

– Theories of mediatisation: culture as an object and subject of media.

– The Russian ‘cultural code’ and the civilisational approach: discussions in the Humanities and in the Media space.

– Russian painting from icons to the avant-garde and its representation in the media.

– Russian classical literature of the XIX-XX centuries and its representation in the media.

– Russian classical music, opera, ballet, pop, rock and their media representation.

– Soviet and Russian cinema: names, films, dates and media representation.

– Creation of multimedia media content on culture-related topics: the main specifics.

– Art criticism: how to write reviews of books, films, exhibitions and music albums.

– Interviews with cultural figures: preparation, techniques and techniques of conversation with newsmakers, editing, visualisation of content.

– Promotion of cultural content in social networks: the basics of SMM and media production.

Skills and Competence

– Understanding the patterns of development of Russian culture.

– Knowledge of its main figures, monuments and artifacts.

– Working with topics, information sources and newsmakers.

– Writing interviews, reviews and other media texts.

– Visualisation of content, multimedia formats.

– Work in social networks and content promotion.

Teaching Methods

Lectures, seminars, business games, group and individual projects.

Prerequisites

Special skills are not required, the course is designed for students of non-media specialties

Final Assessment

Presentation of the final media project.

Final Grade Background

The media project will be evaluated in accordance with criteria such as exclusivity, work with information sources, the quality of text and visual content, and activity in promoting materials on social networks.

Course is taught by

Senior lecturer M. V. Tyurkin, historian, journalist, media expert; lecturer O. V. Harutyunyan, Candidate of Political Sciences; senior lecturer N. A. Urusova.